{"id":13915,"date":"2019-08-07T12:25:01","date_gmt":"2019-08-07T16:25:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/news\/?p=13915"},"modified":"2019-08-07T12:25:01","modified_gmt":"2019-08-07T16:25:01","slug":"t-c-teachers-visit-el-salvador-to-learn-more-about-the-lives-of-their-international-academy-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/news\/?p=13915","title":{"rendered":"T.C. Teachers Visit El Salvador to Learn More About the Lives of Their International Academy Students"},"content":{"rendered":"
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For staff at T.C. Williams High School\u2019s International Academy (IA), the life their students lived before they reach the US is often something of a mystery.<\/p>\n

But truly understanding what came before can be invaluable to future success, Assistant Principal of Academy 7, Kristen McInerney believes.<\/p>\n

So, at the end of June, she and a team of educators embarked on a fact finding mission to El Salvador where 40% of current IA students are from.<\/p>\n

McInerney was joined on the week-long venture by reading teacher Sally Preston, earth science teacher Lisa Coughlin, and administrative assistant Victoria Menjivar, who is Salvadoran.<\/p>\n

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The women teamed up with a host of contacts on the ground, including Menjivar\u2019s family and the sister of one of the department\u2019s security officers, who happens to be a social worker in the country.<\/p>\n

Together, they spent a week traveling from their base outside San Salvador across 300 miles, through seven provinces. They visited six schools, meeting hundreds of children and sharing knowledge with dozens of teachers and administrators.<\/p>\n

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They even made a stop in Chirilagua \u2014 after which the Hispanic neighborhood in the north of Alexandria is named.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had 12 people all passionate about education all traveling together in one van. There was a lot of laughter and a lot of great conversation,\u201d said McInerney.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to learn more about the previous school experiences of our students. I wanted to deeper understand El Salvador\u2019s education system and in turn help our kids make the transition academically, socially and emotionally.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI treasure our students and now I can better picture what their lives would have looked like.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe trip validated the important work that our passionate teachers and Alexandria community is doing to serve newcomers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Children in the Central American country attend school from kindergarten through ninth grade, when they sit for an exam to determine whether they are eligible to move on to high school.<\/p>\n

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Teachers paid $300 a month manage a class of up to 45 students, no cell phones are allowed, and only one room is air conditioned where aging computers are housed.<\/p>\n

Uniforms are mandatory and backpacks must be made of transparent material for security reasons. One school psychologist serves an entire district of about 80,000 children.<\/p>\n

One of the most notable differences to McInerney and her team was the school schedule with AM and PM shifts and the three recesses each day. Outside and unstructured, the students ran around, played soccer, and caught up with friends.<\/p>\n

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Ultimately, that means around only three-and-a-half hours per day spent in the classroom. Half attend in the morning and half in the afternoon \u2014 about half that of the typical American student.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are used to running around outside during recess and we are telling them, \u2018Please walk\u2019 in the hallways and expecting them to stay focused for 90 minutes at a time in class. That was a light bulb moment for me,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are cognitively exhausted when they start here in class. Imagine coming into school for seven and a half hours with a new language and you are used to a schedule so different.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIntroducing more \u2018brain breaks\u2019 is certainly something we will consider.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added, \u201cEducation is highly regarded in El Salvador and it is taken very seriously. The teachers had incredible rapport and command of the kids but they are hampered by the economic and socio-political system.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe gang situation is real and it impacts the daily lives of people who are not affiliated. There are certain neighborhoods that you can\u2019t cross into.\u201d<\/p>\n

Teachers explained to the contingent from ACPS that the children coming to America are often ones that are in danger. They frequently disappear from class without warning as they begin their journey to the US.<\/p>\n

Sometimes they come back weeks later, having either been turned away at the border or had their application for asylum rejected. And yet sometimes they are successful and start a new life here.<\/p>\n

Menjivar understands all too well how hard it can be to leave your home behind and start afresh.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs an immigrant myself, that left El Salvador in the middle of the civil war \u2014 leaving a familiar place, family and friends \u2014 was one of the hardest things I have done in life,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cParents without any other alternative are forced to leave El Salvador with their children and in extreme situations. They allow their children to make the journey here by themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Back in school this fall, students will hear all about the trip and pour over photographs.<\/p>\n

They will even examine rock and sediment samples taken from volcanoes in the country, as they compare the geology of Virginia and El Salvador.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs an Earth Science teacher, I found the experience very valuable,\u201d said Coughlin.<\/p>\n

\u201cEl Salvador has examples of features that I teach my students about in class that we do not have in Virginia. By seeing and taking pictures of these features, such as volcanoes, and bringing back rock and sediment samples to use in my class, I’ll be able to better relate the subject we are learning about to the lives and experiences of my students.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is hoped that connections made this summer will be maintained and strengthened for the good of schools in both countries.<\/p>\n

One desire is to return the hospitality shown to them and host a group of Salvadoran educators in the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the biggest things I saw was that regardless of culture or language, teachers care and are doing the best they can with what they have,\u201d said Preston.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt also made me even more appreciative of the support and care we get from the Alexandria community for our school and the dedication of teachers and staff in creating a continually growing learning environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For staff at T.C. Williams High School\u2019s International Academy, the life their students lived before they reach the US is often something of a mystery. So, at the end of June, a team of International Academy educators embarked on a fact finding mission to El Salvador where 40% of current IA students are from.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":13916,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,3,66],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13915","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-acps","category-achs","category-international-academy"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-10 22:29:17","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13915","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13915"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13915\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13924,"href":"http:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13915\/revisions\/13924"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13916"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13915"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}